Swimming in the pool or lake has always been a beloved summer activity. Did you know swimming as physical therapy is also very helpful! It is also a great opportunity to improve your child’s strength, coordination, balance, and endurance by maximizing all the benefits that water has to offer!
Swimming is a great full body exercise because of the resistance that the water gives in all directions. It is a great opportunity to provide proprioceptive sensory input which will help to increase muscle activation and allow for your child to perform the best that they can. The buoyancy of the water helps to reduce loading on weight bearing joints provides an optimal environment for practicing gross motor skills. Swimming in warmer water can also have effects on your child’s tone. Assisting your child as they float in the water and providing gentle swaying movements can help to decrease muscle tone and allow for greater relaxation.
Listed below are a few activities that can be performed to improve overall strength, balance, and coordination while staying cool this summer!
Water races
Whether your child can swim independently or not, races can still be beneficial to improve cardiovascular endurance and strength. If your child is unable to swim, walking or running races can take place in shallow water and challenge your child’s leg strength, balance, and activity tolerance! Bonus challenge: try side-stepping or backwards walking to further work on hip strength, core strength, and coordination!
Tummy time
Lay on your stomach over a noodle, kick board, or other float. This is a perfect chance to strengthen head, trunk and leg extensors. Add in kicking for an extra glute workout!
Blast-offs
Have your child put their feet and hands on the side of the pool and in a crunch position. Push off through your legs and see how far you can go! This is a good strengthening activity for legs and core.
Seated/standing balance
If your child is working on independent sitting, you may sit in shallow water or on pool steps. This allows for the buoyancy support of the water to unload joints and work on sitting and balance reactions. As your child gets stronger, you may move them into more shallow water to increase the challenge. The same goes for standing balance! You can progress from standing in shoulder deep water to more shallow water in order to increase stability in standing.
You can easily add in fine motor challenges by bringing cups, spoons, sponges, and wind-up toys to the pool as well. We hope you enjoy these ideas and are able to implement strengthening activities in a fun and motivating way!